Fernando Alonso delighted his home crowd with a thrilling victory in the European Grand Prix in Valencia but there were impressive drives all the way down the field. Who was your driver of the day?

Fernando Alonso

Had a positive day on Friday finishing 7th fastest overall but made a mistake in Q2 by doing a medium tyre run and a soft tyre run rather than two soft tyre runs. Failed to make Q3 as a result and started 11th. Made up three places at the start and then passed Lewis Hamilton later in the race as the McLaren driver had a problem in the pits. Made a bold move around the outside of Romain Grosjean for second and then inherited the lead when Sebastian Vettel retired. Looked after his tyres in the final stint to secure his 29th career victory and reclaim the lead of the drivers’ standings.

Kimi Raikkonen

Looked solid in practice and put in a strong performance to qualify fifth, one place behind Lotus team-mate Grosjean. Made a good start, but was forced to lift before Turn Two in a tightly-packed field and dropped down as a result. Showed good race pace to rise up to third and then closed up to the back of Hamilton. Eventually made a move stick to rise up into second and then coasted home to secure his third podium of the season.

Michael Schumacher

Played down his chances of securing a good result in Valencia after a disappointing performance in Canada but showed encouraging pace in practice. An error in Q2 meant he didn’t make the top 10 shoot-out and started 12th between the two Ferraris. Made a clean start on the medium tyre but decided late on that a one-stop wasn’t possible and switched to a two. The decision proved inspired as fresher tyres late in the race helped him climb through the field, rising up to third courtesy of some good moves and retirements from others. Held off a chasing Mark Webber to secure his first podium since returning to the sport.

Mark Webber

Suffered a brake problem in final practice which meant he lost valuable running time. Though the team fixed the car to get him out in qualifying, the Australian was on the back foot and without DRS, which meant he was knocked out in Q1 and started 19th. Made slow progress in the early part of the race after starting on the medium tyre, but like Schumacher decided late on to switch from a one-stop to a two-stop which helped him scythe through the field. Finished fourth and rose up to second in the drivers’ standings.

Nico Hulkenberg

Outperformed Force India team-mate Paul di Resta to qualify a strong eighth after showing good pace in practice. Made a clean start, to make up a couple of places and then looked after his tyres. Used an early two-stop strategy, with a longer final stint to rise up through the pack and run as high as third. However, a Kers failure and worn tyres meant he lost two places to Schumacher and Webber before holding on to fifth place – the best result of his career.

Old racing adage to finish first, first you have to finish! Vettel didn't finish. Also, after the tire management disaster of Montreal, Alonso gets top points just for learning from his mistakes. Brilliant race. In Valencia just like in Donetsk there is only ONE name: ALONSO!

...are you talking about the best car that failed him 3 times in practise with 3 different problems ( hydraulics, brakes and DRS) and no timed laps in P3?. So could only start 19th. Pretty good drive i reckon and a little different from the other RB 'best car'

Because he started 19th and finished 4th. While some of that accomplishment could reasonably be attributed to the car, it indicates that Webber drove a very good race, taking advantage of all that was offered to him and making few, if any, mistakes.

I think Vettel and Grosjean also deserved a vote or two here. Both great drives and retired due to no fault of their own... Anyway, driver of the day is clearly Alonso here in my view, perfect drive from 11th, solid overtakes, excellent first lap... Great stuff!

so are we going to now have an award for 'driver of half the race'?...i agree that Grosean in particular was outstanding however i think to be fair, we need to draw the line at finishing the race. Otherwise we could have a poll for everything.

Went for Schumacher, but Alonso was superb too. Although somewhat overlooked, I think his race was made by how he cut through the train of cars behind Schumacher after the first round of pits (I think).

The focus in the media seems to have been on his good start, and his pit strategy (combined with a couple of retirements) but for me the most exciting part of his race was picking off people one by one and moving through to the front of that train. Superb driving and I loved watching the train going, in some cases, 3 cars abreast into the corners.

As for Schumacher, a well deserved podium follow a great drive. Once again, seeing him and Webber picking people off at the end of the race was great.

Very disappointed for Hamilton, and Button had another weekend to forget. Good to see Maldonado got a penalty, but that doesn't offer much consolation for Hamilton I suppose!

This goes for all the vettelians: Sebastian Vettel rely on an excellent car. Alonso or Hamilton can pull that little extra from a car judged simply reasonably good. Hamilton usually "cooks" his tyres. Alonso is the best out there in these days. Remember RB brought an important update in the rear bodywork, reconfiguration of the radiator air flow exit, among others, which translates into a better rear downforce. If not for these I don't know where Vettel or Weber would be. On paper they are clear favorites for the upcoming Silverstone GP, but Alonso should have a say. Shall see...

I can agree Vettel did a great job while he was on the track but we have seen drivers cruise the fastest car from pole hundreds of times. You will have to agree that what Alonso did yesterday was absolutely a different thing, pulling a lot of overtakes on drivers he was racing and in a track that is famous for its lake of overtaking in the past. It was something really special, IMO the best race I've seen in ages, you just can not compare.

Yes he is able to drive the fastest car faster than everyone else. But he does not show great driving ability. Has he ever come from the back of the pack like Alonso, Button or for that matter Webber? The obvious choice here is Fernando and thats from me a Lewis fan.

James, despite the fact that there are many great drivers racing this year and I respect a lot of them for their passion, skills, dedication and ability to break known limits...this year there is one driver that clearly stands out - Fernando Alonso.

He is the driver of the day and the driver of the year so far.

Somehow he is never giving up, he is pushing this Ferrari by the power of his will and is motivating the whole team to try and win the championship - it is not just phenomenal driving, it is more.

His drive yesterday was simply outstanding, so passionate, so strong!

He used every single opportunity and the move at the restart, how he prepared and executed this move was unbelievable:-)

I agree. I used to think Fernando was a bit of a whinger that could only play nicely when they were all his toys and he was winning. I rated him as a driver but not as a sportsman. However, this past two seasons he is proving he is an excellent sportsman, ambassador (for both Ferrari and the F1 business as a whole), team leader and racer. Dare I say it - I am an Alonso fan too now (not a Ferrari fan yet though - perhaps LDM can learn a thing or two from Fernando and my mind might change again).

Good question. Senna was 10th and although he was well behind Kova after both had incidents, I think the safety car brought him back into it and he was than right behind Kova- from there the Williams was always going to be faster, even on one stop tyres.

Forget the Hamilton should have let him past theory. Let's just look at the facts.

Hamilton ran him off the road, fair enough, it's his line. But when Maldonado tried to get back on track (which he probably shouldn't have because of the line Lewis had) he lost steering when he hit th kerb. Thus...crash!

There's a thing that Jackie Stewart calls "mind management". Part of it involves thinking through a race. In this case he knows that he is racing Maldonado, a guy who Hamilton took out in Monza last year and has who has twice intentionally collided with other cars in non racing situations. Put the two together and it should have been clear that Pastor was likely to try to get by - the red mist was quite likely to come over. For a 10 per cent chance of keeping third given the state of his tyres, Hamilton engaged in a situation that had a high likelihood of a collision. If he was racing Rosberg, it would have been different, particularly pre-Bahrain. But as a driver you need to understand when it is pointless. Paul Di Resta gets it totally in his tyre saving runs.

Still it makes Hamilton and event to watch, and in a way I have no need for him to improve in this area as it is likely to make the spectacle worse 🙂

Yup and compare and contrast with Alonso in Montreal. He accepted his fate and at least got points for finishing 5th. Points for fifth is way better than zero points and this is why Alonso leads the championship right now and not Hamilton.

What you say may be the logical thing, but, that is not what I for one look for in a sportsman. If Lewis acted on that thinking he would allowed Pastor to overtake him around the outside, giving up a podium place in the process. A RACER would never do that. As a neutral (i.e. without a fellow countryman to support) it's the racing I primarily tune in to watch, and it's the racers I cheer for, not the clinical pilots.

As for the crash itself, Pastor drove his car back onto the track while Lewis was still there. 100% Pastor's fault in my opinion, regardless of why he was off the track in the first place. I think Pastor's penalty was quite light considering how dangerous the move was.

There was no way he could hold Pastor off for another couple of laps, and also given his history with Pastor he should have expected a potential collision. He should have just accepted the inevitable and settle for 4th place.

Perhaps Lewis could have given Pastor some more room, but if you look at the line Pastor took, he was on a collision course one way or the other. It doesn't really matter if you get rammed on the inside, middle or outside of a corner, does it?

Does a driver have to finish to get on this list? Grosjean was better than Raikonnen all day. It wasn't his fault that his car broke. It seems unfair that he can't be on this list whilst his teammate (who would have finished behind him) is on it. Same with Vettel.

I think you didn't saw carefully the start Raikkonen got past Grosjean but then he was blocked by Maldonado, with a little bit of better luck he would be in third after the first lap, I think you are a little bit biased, also Grosjean had the new front wing Raikkonen didn't. What I agree is that Grosjean is putting some solid performances

Generally this is more indicative of the team splitting strategy because they aren't fully comfortable with their testing of the new bits.

When this results in the driver with the new bits performing the conspiracy theorists say they are favoured by management because they got the new bits, when the opposite happens the conspiracy theorists say the other driver is favoured by management because they didn't get the newfangled experimental bits ;).

Alonso,keeps it real G.O.D.!!Raikenen Tough as nails and still quick. Shumacher, Webber stood not a chance of getting past the widest Benz in the world. Webber, What a drive through the chaos. Vettel, Unlucky, but who is gonna stop the kid. The rest looked pretty ordinary in the end didn't they.WOW What a race!!

When someone or something steals victory or otherwise robs you of your full potential in something.

Examples include:

1) You and another person are the only candidates for a single job opening. You're the more qualified candidate but the other person gets it because they know someone at the company.

2) Playing a racing game and you're about to make record lap time or course time only to get a lousy item which slows you down enough as to prevent setting said record.

3) Having grades just good enough to get into an excellent college. Then when writing an exam, you've done well only for the person grading it to give you a lousy mark (as in far below what you deserved for it) on an essay question. Said low mark lowers your GPA just enough as to disqualify you for the college you wanted.

4) Playing the lottery and missing the jackpot by a single digit.

Eg:

1) That guy only got the job because his mother is the manager. I was robbed.

2) Dammit, I was about to score record time in this course and then I end up getting an item that slows me down! I was robbed!

3) I would have been able to get into an Ivy League college if it wasn't for the guy that graded my exam giving me such a lousy grade on the essay question in the final exam. I was robbed.

4) The numbers for jackpot were 2, 7, 16, 35 and 48. I had 2, 7, 16, 35 and 47! I was robbed!

Had Raikkonen not been blocked by Maldonado at the start and forced off the track by Maldonado later in the race, I believe he would have won. He did an excellent race, but to become the driver of the day you need some luck.

Same with Webber, starting 19th on the grid he drove an excellent race taking full advantage of others missfortune.

Maldonado is no doubt back to his bad old habits. And I thought he had matured, but no.

Have to go with Alonso for drive of the day, the Fonz is an absolute wizard and will have the title in the bag if the Ferrari stays reliable and brings along effective updates throughout the season.

Webber going from P19 to secure (another) fourth place was a great outcome. I loved watching the Schumi-Webber train scythe their way through the field over the closing laps with clean, measured passing. Maldonado should take note of these veterans, although Hamilton did not do much to avoid the incident - that he was going to be passed was inevidable... perhaps he too needs to take note of the other veteran drivers?

Yeah, looking at it again, I wasn't sure it was as clear cut as I initially thought; maybe Hamilton could have left him more room. He moved them well over to the left before the right hander, and Maldonado was always going to stay on the outside; he had nowhere to go through the kink, but, I don't know. Great tv to see Hamilton's reaction from the helicopter shot, belting that expensive steering wheel. Great season...

1.) Alonso - Great drive, kept his head lots of very very impressive overtakes. Stunning driver.

2.) Vettel - Brilliant drive whilst his car held up. Taking nearly 2s out of Lewis on lap one!? If that was reversed we'd be hearing about it for weeks. Awesome drive and was on for an easy win in a season where it's so close!

3.) Grosjean - was on for a career best 2nd up until the same failure as Seb. Comfortably out performed his team mate. Nice overtake of LH and looked on for a win when Seb dropped out.

In my honest opinion Maldonado was driving a great race until he and Hamilton came together. Great move on Webber at the final corner, side by side with Lewis on the start finish straight. Personally I feel Lewis should have given the place up and he would have suffered less. But the accident was Pastor's fault, he could have backed off for 4th place. So I would give it to Hulkenburg, considering the car and Teammate he drove solidly, if unspectacularly.

Well, actually, possibly not all Pastor's fault. I believe the rules now require that drivers give cars sufficient track space (at least a car's width) when a car is attempting an overtake. That came about after Schumacher's overly strong defensive swerve on Barrichello a few years ago. Most drivers seem to be able to do that (Senna didn't and was penalised for the clash with Kobayashi) but Hamilton regularly fails (particularly when Massa is involved). He gave Maldonado no room on the outside of the turn, forcing him off the track and then failed to give him room to re-enter the track so really only has himself to blame when the two cars eventually touched. Only this time Lewis came off worst. Yes, Pastor maybe should have (for the sake of salvaging team points) backed off and re-entered the track behind Lewis but Lewis failed to give him the space he was required by the rules to give.

It has to be either Vettel or Grosjean. But unfortunately their cars let them down.

Definitely not Alonso. Just because he won the race, doesn't mean he gets to be the driver of the day. Vettel won so many races but he never became the driver of the day in this forum. Alonso won because leading drivers had mechanical problems. I didn't see anything exceptional in him other than the media hype.

Would have given it to Schumi but his DRS was opened during yellow flags and was investigated. Vettel and Massa were punished for similar incidents. (Don't anyone try to explain me the difference between the two incidents). I am just an ordinary fan and all I saw was opened DRS.

Can't give Webber because he was trying very hard to get Schumi penalised so that he can get 3rd place. That is a dirty game. Not a genuine sportsman.

I will give it to Kimi. The team let him down a bit otherwise he could have won it.

Kobayashi had an eventful afternoon... passed Maldonado on lap one; he was running 4th, behind three guys who DNFed. But, he didn't bring it home! The Senna incident was probably Bruno's fault, but marginal. With Massa, I guess he deserved a penalty. Definitely a lost opportunity.

When I was a kid I had a Niki Lauda's toy Ferrari (312T with no.12) and since that time I enjoy formula 1 races. I stopped watching after Senna death, but rejoined a few years later.

Man, there were really some great drivers from that time onwards, and today there is few for I have great respect (KR, LH, SV, MSC). But one of the drivers that we're watching today is, imho, the Best Driver of All Times - Fernando Alonso.

He is highly intelligent, highly adaptive, determin, with a KERS (as I said some time ago) in his head - always ready to push when needed. True racer, skillful and smart.

Strange but this man has no weakness.. Put him in whaever car you want, apply whaever rule you want, choose any weather conditions you want - he will always come up on top. Always.

If there is one step up (in driver performance) I can't see which one is it.

You may or may not agree with me but please be aware of the moment - Fernando Alonso is unique and we are privileged to watch him perform. So sit back and enjoy while it last.

For some years he has not been the best in the rain, but Malaysia proved otherwise this year. Korea in 2010 also.

Where his main weakness is, is qualifying. I don't think he is the fastest over a single lap. You never get the sense that he's dragged out a time from nothing, like Vettel and Hamilton regularly do.

Best of all time? I'd argue not.

My name kind of gives it away, but Senna was recognised as the best qualifier, the best in the rain, unbelievable speed and concentration in a race.

These aren't my words, these were offered by Berger as his team-mate and by many others over the years.

But I do agree, we are truly fortunate to be seeing Alonso at his peak, but in a car that needs brilliance to win with. If he was driving a dominant car, we'd not be seeing this level of ability so often.

One of Senna's most famous wins was Donington 1993, in a car that was behind the Williams and Benetton in pace, but with mixed conditions, genius comes to the fore.

If he had been in the Williams, he'd have still dominated, but would it be remembered in the same way?

Senna was my hero also. It wouldn't be fair to compare them, as i love them both. And they are different. Senna was too aggressive and lost too many points/wins because of his character. Alonso knows how to drive and always have time to think/calculate things, in a positive way (means not like MSC back in his time lol 🙂 ).

Overall, Senna will always stay in my heart, and his (10cm small) McLaren MP4/5-Honda v10 1989 along with his (also small) helmet on my desk 🙂

But right now I'm enjoying Alonso's performances and while the Best of all times could sound overrated it also may be the truth 🙂

Alonso hands down, man over machine, the driver did the difference. In Vettel's case, he was driving very good but it's clear that the car has now something "special" again, it's not his driving the thing that let him get 20 secs without "moving a finger".

Prat of the day; Hamilton. What happened to his plan for consistency and to score some points at every race? He threw away a good haul of points yesterday. Having said that, if McLaren hadn't screwed up the pitstop yet again he wouldn't have been anywhere near Maldonado.

Being on the "right" (though marginally) won't give LH his position back. The clever move would have been letting PM pass and not to waste too much time doing so in order to ensure pocketing some points.

Alonso for me. I did like the 1-2 punch from Schumacher and Webber tho. Very entertaining.

James I know you did a piece on it before can't remember if you had figures on it. What is the difference (euros) between 6th and 8th in the constructors championship? Would like to know if the pay drivers for Williams are really worth it? The 2 drivers there have thrown away so many points that they would easily be 6th, probably pushing merc for 5th if they had say Rubens and Heikki driving for them.

did he really? qualified 0.008 ahead and had the same race pace. and would have been overtaken by his teammate at the start had maldonado not chopped across raikkonen's bows. is that really outshining?

Hamilton ran Maldonado out wide on the right hander. He could have given Maldonado more room to get back on the track for the left hander. Maldonado should probably have not tried to get back on track alongside Hamilton - that's what caused the incident - he squeezed back on but was on too tight a line to make the left hander without hitting Hamilton. Rightly, Maldonado was found to be the driver to blame, but perhaps Hamilton should not have defended so aggressively?

I.e. the wider point is that if you defend position to the maximum extent permitted by the rules the chances of a collision are that much greater. It's a question of risk and reward - Hmailton v Massa at Silverstone on the last corner, Hamilton hung on to his podium by v. tenacious defence (again could have ended in tears); here, similar approach did end in tears.

As for others who didn't make the list such as Groj. or Vett. why mention them if they didn't finish? There are a lot of drivers who could have made the list but things happen and they didn't. Look at Mal. he was having a great race or Ham or even Massa who was having a great race until he got caught out by pitting just before the safety car.

Really everyone's idea of who had a great race is different so all James has done is listed the top finishers and ask who you think from them had the best race.

Keep it up James I think it is great.

I look forward to reading this site every morning before I go to work and I like to see the different views from all the fans from all over the world.

Vettel was suddenly very fast this weekend with his car sounding exactly like last year when off the throttle ( and completely different to all other cars) I thought the rules had changed on all that trick throttle mapping. According to Gary Anderson the exhaust now also features ducting to direct the exhaust gasses onto the diffuser. So what is a blown diffuser and what is not a blown diffuser. I'm sure it's all legal, but just curious.

Difficult to say, really… Alonso put together some stunning overtaking, Vettel was bloody fast, Grosjean showed the maturity of a leading driver and he was also very fast, whilst Schumacher and Webber, yesterday’s twins, made their way up nicely.

I want to make an honorable mention to Ricciardo. When he didn't pit during the safety he inherited 3rd, but Schumi and Webber were 7th and 9th at the time and they didn't pit either. He was forced to stay out because Vergne was in the STR box. Instead he had to try to stretch out a gap to limit the loss of track position, which I think led to him tangling with Petrov. The race sheet says he finished 11th, but I think he could've mixed it with the guys who ended up 3rd and 4th.

Fernando, no doubt! Sure he inherited the lead when Vettel retried and Grosjean's challenge was also negated later on, but to start from P11 and fight his way through the pack to put himself in a position to win is sheer brilliance. Unbelievable!

Special mention for Michael: he drove a an excellent race as well. Hopefully this begins his reverse of fortune, and we can see him finish in the top 3 more often. The podium of Fernando-Kimi-Michael was a throwback to the 2000s! And it was in some way a Ferrari reunion as well, since all of them have driven and won GPs for the team. Who would've though, Valencia was capable of producing such a result?(!)

Like a few intelligent people here, anyone who thinks any driver other than Fernando was driver of the day have a few loose screws or very biased. I dislike Ferrari and never ruled Fernando as the best but this year he has proved he is in the Elite Class. & this race

- he started eleven ,made up three or four places in the first turn through sheer determination. That was pure Majic in itself he was on the limit and missed clipping at least two cars by mm"s.the replays were spectacular !

- stayed hard on it passed Hulkenburg ( who was super quick)

- then pitted & exited at max pace ahead of Kimi

and kept ahead on cold tyres !

- passed Hamilton brilliantly and was edging to Grosjean before the Lotus stopped. Both Kimi and Lewis are my favorite drivers.

What got me was the way he passed people, the decisions he took were faultless and absolutely no hesitation.

If The RB8 holds together it will be hard to catch from here on in . But with Fernando behind the wheel of that Ferrari its like another KERS button all the time !

Alonso!!! His drive was inspiring. This is the stuff that attracts new fans to F1. The sheer determination and will to never give up, all the emotion in the end. This is a divine amalgamation of talent, passion, and thoughtful driving I haven't seen around since Senna. (And by this I definitely do not mean Bruno!)

What happened to the old driver's etiquette element that concludes: if a driver attempts to pass on the outside of an opponent into a corner because the inside line is covered by said opponent, the risk then totally rests on the shoulder of said driver making that outside pass?

I say "later" for all of that business about leaving the outside passing car room on the race track, if the inside car has the corner.

Strictly my opinion, here, but I was starting to like Maldonado as a driver. However, that "destruction derby" move he put on Hamilton, with just 1 lap to go, simply shows me Palster's still the same "squirrel" of a race driver who nearly got booted out of motor racing, altogether, for running over that poor track marshal at Monaco about 4 or 5 years ago (in GP2 I believe) during a yellow flag, track clearing incident--no less!

Hmmm, disagree. If the rules state that a driver has to give another driver at least a car's width of track if he attempting an outside pass then Pastor had every right to go for it and Lewis should have given him room. Forget etiquette - that's the rules. Actually, include etiquette as that should be a driver's extension of the rules to add and supplement, so correct etiquette would be to give him a car's width and a bit more. Usually this is not a problem as it puts the overtaking driver on the dust and marbles and the leading driver would want to hug the racing line anyway. It was only an issue on that corner as it was immediately followed by an opposing corner, giving the driver on the left the advantage. Lewis know this so drove Pastor off the road. Don't get me wrong - I am a bit of a Lewis fan (although becoming less so over the past two seasons) and don't yet rate Pastor that highly but, as a former racer myself I would put more of the blame onto Lewis for that clash (although you might penalise both drivers as Pastors ultimate collision might be seen as "payback" for being driven off the road).

Maldonado, in absolutely, no way had a chance of making that move stick. If you're an old racer (I, myself, raced karts including 100mph (+) endurance karts at SCCA road courses)then you know it was Hamilton's corner (due to his having the only real line through that turn)no ifs or buts about it, my man.

Possessing half-a-brain would have seen Palster get a much better exit out of any of the following turns that lap, and jet right by Lewis like Räikkönen did a lap, or so, earlier.

But no! Maldonado made a move that can only be classified "a joke" except it wasn't very funny. Particularly, given the fact that he races in what is considered the premier motor sports series, F1, while competing against what are said to be the "world's best drivers".

For Hamilton's part, he had every right to defend since he was leading, "duh"!. On the other hand, if he recognized that "the dope" Maldonado was in that Williams, perhaps, he should have known it would all end in tears by just defending like any real racer would....

Palster's penalty was, far too, lenient considering he has made contact with practically every car on the grid this season, in what just eight Grand Prix!

His win was worked out throughout the whole race, combining yet another great start, effective moves over his opponents, a good strategy and a pinch of luck with mechanical and Pit Stop problems of direct competitors.

He showed the consistency we all expect in a driver competing for WDC.

In a race such as this I would have wanted only Schumi to be the man of the day, but the top 4 were brilliant and any of those deserve man of the day. Alonso was great during the race, Kimi was the man chaising him and Schumacher... he was inspired today; held off a faster red bull behind him whilst fighting for glory. I voted for him, but any of the top 4 would do.

In a excellent race such as this only bad drivers stand out, and only Button, with a race winning car he failed to do anything. Bad race from him, making him the worst driver for the day. I hope Sliverstone will turn it around for him but for now his perfermance is hardly what is expected of him.

Alonso did amazing. 11th to 8th off the line, worked his way up, got a bit lucky with the safety car happening at the correct time for him, but even so, it was much more than luck.

Schumacher and Webber did excellently soldiering through the pack together, and well done to Schumacher for his first comeback podium that he was denied of in Canada (11) and China (12).

Feel massively sorry for Vettel and Grosjean for their mechanical failures out of 1st and 2nd respectively.

I have some points I would like to say:

1. The Senna-Kobayashi incident was clearly Kobayashi's fault, or at most, a racing incident. Kobayashi went for a gap which was only going to disappear, crashed into Senna giving him a puncture. Senna then gets a penalty, despite having to nurse in a puncture and pit.

2. What was Vergne thinking?

3. What happened to Petrov?

4. The Hamilton-Maldonado incident was clearly a racing incident. There are two types of racing incident; where neither drivers are at fault, or where both drivers are at fault. This was the latter. Yes, Maldonado was off the circuit, and should have pulled well back, or taken to the run off area and rejoined behind Hamilton, but why was Hamilton leaving so little space. He new Maldonado was there, but still decided to close the door on Maldonado, leaving no space, and thus causing a collision.

Oh yeah, hes been on the podium three times this year and hes only 3 points off 5th in the Championship, when no one rated him a chance at the podium before the season started. His move on Hamilton was sheer class and the passes he'd made on many this year had been as good as you get... But Steve, your entitled to your opinion!

He is a true racer and honest...in his own words, he is not the best in rain, he is not the best in quali, he is not the faster BUT he is almost the best in any of these points mentioned, plus very very inteligent...I didnt see any mentioned to his overtake on Schumi but if you see it again in detail he prepare that move way way before...the guy is fantastic.

I'm interested in your reasoning for omitting Seb Vettel from the list?

My vote would have been Alonso anyway, but if Seb was included, I think your poll result would have been very close between him and Alonso for driver of the day. From the list, I'm not surprised Alonso is the clear winner.

Alonso for me, but I think both Vettel and Grosjean deserve consideration.

It'll be very interesting to see whether the updated Red Bull is as fast at Silverstone, where temps should be cooler. It looked glued to the track at Valencia, and seemed to be working well with the tyres.